Below are ten more A4 pages of expense claims submitted by councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for the 2014/15 financial year. It’s pages twenty-one to thirty of eighty-nine pages and each thumbnail below should link to a more high-definition (and therefore readable) image for each page.

The councillors these pages are for are Cllr Dave Hanratty, Cllr Leslie Byrom, Cllr Linda Maloney and Cllr Ted Grannell.

HQ stand for headquarters, LGA means Local Government Association, FIG (also known as FIGUK) means Fire Information Group and I’ve no idea what SRB refers to.

However the sanctions available, even if a councillor is found to have committed a breach since the reforms a few years ago are pretty toothless and the discipline of councillors rests more now with their political parties.

Not declaring a prejudicial interest and leaving the room during an item is now I think a criminal matter and therefore should be investigated by the police.

Councillors rarely resign. However a byelection can be triggered if the councillor dies, doesn’t turn up to meetings for 6 months, or (if I remember correctly) is convicted during their term of office and given a prison sentence beyond a certain length.

Also a politician being found guilty in a court of law of offences involving their election can also trigger a byelection.

Even if a councillor is suspended by their political party, they carry on being a councillor. However it’s up to that political party to choose their candidate for each election.

Other than the above, it’s down to the people who they vote for, although in many parts of the Wirral (such as where I live in Bidston & St. James) it has been one party’s candidate winning elections for as long as most people can remember.

Does that answer your question?

If a councillor does find themselves at the centre of some controversy or media attention over some issue of public concern, usually they just ride out the storm knowing that they only have to be reselected by their party, then get around 43% of the votes at the next election to get reelected.

In other words the councillor can cheese off 57% of the voters in an area a councillor represents and as those votes will be split between a number of other candidates the existing councillor (generally) still gets reelected under the first past the post system.

Explains a lot about why 65 of them just ignore issues and/or effectively abet officers in issues like Wirral “Funny” Bizz knocking off £2,000,000.00 and how people like “The Pretend Friend” can ***ck over supposed mates.

It’s a cushy old number and ego trip for sad old men/women.

Ooroo

James

Ps Glad to see you this morning on “Highbrows” FOI case on What do they Know Wirral.

Beverley was one of the good ones at Wirral and I presume that is why she had to go and “The Shyster” had to hide her report and someone got Garry to write a crock of shit and then pay him off.

Boy has Ecca got to clean a few out or the better option of bringing in Administration to the council that looks to be beyond repair.

Most Improved in the country.ha ha ha ha

I presume also that you have seen the editor of the rubbish paper over Kev and Stella’s Stagnant Wirral Waters is also on the FOI case.

By: James Griffiths on 24th September 2015 at 10:30 am

Just to clarify as to which editor you mean, do you mean the Editor of the Liverpool Echo Alastair Machray or its political editor Liam Murphy?

To clarify the one that meets “Ankles” on the stairwell in breaks in full council meetings to get the evidence and then has a smoke out the front and shows the evidence to Gemma Dung from the “Open” rental house.

Ooroo

James

You know you cheeky little boy.

Does Machray ever ever go to Wirral?

By: James Griffiths on 24th September 2015 at 12:51 pm

I’ve no idea as I don’t work for the Liverpool Echo.

However the editor of local newspapers (as politicians’ support depends in part on what people read about them in the newspaper) is seen as a more important and influential person than I am.

This blog may have thousands of readers a month, but the Wirral Globe has a combined print and online circulation of 97,368 a week and the Liverpool Echo of ~57,000 an issue in print and 488,688 daily visitors to its website.

Still the rubbish paper from over Kev and Stella’s Stagnant Wirral Waters though.

Ooroo

James

What does it cost for all the page 3’s of “The Chamber Potty”.

How has she survived if Ecca’s got rid of what was his name?

By: James Griffiths on 24th September 2015 at 1:17 pm

It’s always far easier (and cheaper) for a publication to just slightly rewrite press releases. Today’s blog post about Mersey Tunnel tolls is a rare example of writing on my blog that is based (in part) on a press release. However I’ve provided much more detail and background than was in the original press release.